10 mg is quite high. Melatonin is hard to OD on, if it’s even possible, BUT anything more than a physiological dose (1mg, actually) can set some of your homeostatic mechanisms into gear and mean that you’ll stop producing your own melatonin for a while, and it’ll take some time to return circadian rhythms back to normal.

That’s why people who take 3mg to sleep (the dose you get from natural food store aisles) get less and less of an effect after a few nights. And wacky dreams/nightmares.

I would never advise this high a dose in small children as, as far as I know, it’s entirely untested. Melatonin isn’t just day-night cycle, it’s overall circadian rhythm which may include things like onset of puberty.

Source: I am a neuroscientist/anaomist with a circadian rhythm disorder

I couldn’t hit ‘like’ on this post. How utterly sad. As a father this terrifies me. We try to convince ourselves that young kids are not so fragile, but they really are. I’m so sorry for you, and for your niece’s parents.

Yeah dude, it’s hard out there. Most low wage jobs don’t pay enough to cover childcare, period. I have a friend who’s a single-Mom in Portland and I don’t know how she does it. We even had to let her move in with us once because without friends, supporting two kids by yourself on a lower-tier job is just impossible.

Fairly sure all church daycares must be licenced in California, Washington, and Illinois. My kids went to church affiliated preschools in Illinois and Washington, and a small family daycare in California. All licenced. I’m sure unlicenced home daycares are common, and there are a lot of red-states of course…

In California the test is ‘do you care for non-relative children from more than one family’ in addition to your own.

Ugh. Millennials. Drugging daycare kids to go to the gym is about what I’d expect from such a selfish generation.
In my day, we drugged daycare kids to use in satanic rituals for the greater good our religious community.

Interesting factoid: melatonin is the most efficient antioxidant in the body. People with blindness at the level of the eye (i.e. light not getting into their brain at all and therefore not reaching the suprachiasmic nucleas of the hypothalamus where it needs to reset circadian rhythm) have constant melatonin release which makes them sleepy randomly through the day and night, but they also have lower general cancer rates also due to the melatonin.

I don’t know what it is like in Oregon, but in most places there are lots of “unlicensed” daycares, provided they don’t exceed a certain number of children they are perfectly legal. Where I live they are often called day homes, and a caregiver can watch a maximum of 5 children.

It’s fun to blame parents for everything, but the reality is that large daycare centres are often more expensive and have long waiting lists to get in. Many parents can’t afford that, and so-called unlicensed daycares provide an alternative in the market that is usually less expensive (often run out of someone’s home, so they are not paying rent).

The blame is 100% on this daycare operator, and there are plenty of people that operate unlicensed daycares that do a fantastic job. Of course parents should do due diligence, but who’s to say they didn’t in this case?

I’d add that unlicensed daycares are usually completely legal (so long as they don’t have too many kids), and that many (most?) aren’t sketchy - “Child comes home from daycare completely unscathed” doesn’t make for riveting news.

Melatonin is on a metabolic pathway with serotonin. But your body converts from 5-ht based on external stimuli. So you know, live a healthy balanced life full of joy and activity in the day and keep a stable routine for falling asleep with little artificial light at night. Avoid blue light (most electronic light is blue) for a few hours before bedtime. Lack of blue light is one of the external stimuli that increases melatonin production. I have orange light filters on all of my electronics.

There’s a pathway from the retina to the hypothalamus, which influences the conversion of 5-HT to melatonin and releases vasopressin rhythmically to let us know what time of day it is.

I think the only way artificially ingested melatonin could give you cancer would be if it was produced in a sub-par factory and contained contaminants like lead or somesuch. Though there are shockingly few human studies with melatonin. Most of it is done on fish.

For me, taking the melatonin that my body doesn’t seem to produce on its own seems like the very least of my cancer risks. Sunlight and formalin being #1 and #2.

Unfortunately, cost and lack of available space in commercial centers are driving people to in-home daycare. In a Facebook group where I catch up on local events posted by people in my area, mothers frequently ask for daycare recommendations for babies between 2-6 months old. If there’s a problem, the children are too young to tell. Parents can only judge by their condition and hope for the best.

In CA it’s not legal, AFAIK, but IANAL either. I do know that my childcare was subsidized for a short period of time ( back when such social programs still existed); and in order to qualify, all care providers had to be licensed.

mallyboon:

It’s fun to blame parents for everything

Not my intent, nor what I said.

mallyboon:

Of course parents should do due diligence, but who’s to say they didn’t in this case?

I didn’t say that they didn’t.

PsiPhiGrrrl:

Unfortunately, cost and lack of available space in commercial centers are driving people to in-home daycare.

I’m hip; the cost of childcare was like paying for a whole other (unfurnished) apartment, especially after the program I was in ended.

I’m not blaming the parents here, simply saying that I was too paranoid and distrustful to deal with anyone who wasn’t certified.